Naughty or Nice
by MCMLXXVIII
Summary: "Rick wakes up to the sound of crying he didn't expect. Considering how well Christmas dinner went last night, he did not really expect such a bad start in the morning."


Rick wakes up to the sound of crying he didn't expect. Considering how well Christmas dinner went last night, he did not really expect such a bad start in the morning.

He stretches out across the bed, groaning to himself. The space beside him is cold and he's not really surprised based on the amount of screaming upstairs. He pulls a shirt over his head and made his way out the room to see what all the fuss is about.

The door to his son's room is wide open and he can see Kate struggling with their four year old on his bed.

"Daniel, please, mommy has to go visit the precinct if they punish the bad people. I'll be back immediately but you really have to get up."

He can hear the frustration creeping under his wife's tone and he decided to finally step in.

"Hey." He calls from the doorway.

He sees the instant relief floods across Kate's face when she sees him.

"Hey." She greets when he comes in to kiss her cheek.

"What's going on?" He asks and Kate just shakes her head.

"Bad mommy." Daniel cries from his bed, stealing his attention.

Rick turns back to his wife with a questioning look but she also shakes her head in confusion.

"I don't know what I did and I hate to leave him like this but I gotta check on the precinct. Please do something." Kate frowns at him and he wraps an arm around her waist to pull her in for a kiss.

"We'll fix this." He kisses her again. "Now you go so you can be back real quick."

"Thank you." She murmurs before stealing another kiss from him.

"Daniel." He calls to his son after Kate left the room.

Daniel is curled up with his blanket all over his body, making him look so much smaller than the boy he is.

"Hey," He sits on the bed and rubs a hand against the lump formed by his son. "Mommy has left for work now. Do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

The boy slowly lowered the blanket from his face and his heart breaks at the sight of him with red eyes and puffy cheeks.

"Oh, baby, come here." His son leaves his place on the bed and crawls to his lap. He wraps an arm around him tightly as he cries.

"Oh, Daniel, what happened? It's Christmas. Why are you sad? Aren't you excited to see Santa's gifts?"

At his last sentence, Daniel's cries only grew louder and his chest squeezes at the the sound of it.

"Hey, it's okay, now. Daddy is here." He soothes until he senses his son's sob die down. "Can you tell daddy what's wrong now?"

His son nods against his chest and it wasn't too long when he leans back so he can look him in the eye.

"Daddy, you love mommy right?" He asks softly and Rick's brows furrow in confusion.

"Of course I love your mommy." His son nods again.

"And mommy loves you back?"

Rick nods. "Mommy loves me back, yes."

There's a pause before Daniel speaks again. "And mommies and daddies kiss because they love each other?"

"Yes, they do." Rick replies carefully, unsure of where the conversation is going. He waits his son out.

"I saw mommy kissing Santa." His boy whimpers before bursting again into tears.

Rick groans inwardly. _Shit._ It was his idea last night to dress up as Santa to fill his son's stocking and it was then that his wife caught him after she's down finishing up after dinner.

He didn't really mean for it to be arousing but apparently, the beard did it for her. They spent a while making out below the Christmas tree and although he doesn't regret everything that it led to, he didn't really mean for their son to see them that way.

"Hey now." He squeezes his son in his arms, racking his brain for an explanation. "You said Santa isn't real right?"

"Yeah." His son sobs. "But I saw him last night."

Rick couldn't hold back his chuckle and it made his son look up to him with confusion.

"Do you wanna know a secret?" He whispers to the boy.

Daniel wipes the tears of his and nods eagerly.

"Daddy dressed up as Santa last night." He says and he laughs at the affronted look on his son's face.

"Why?" He asks making Rick laugh harder.

"Because like you said, Santa isn't real. So it's the daddies' job to give gifts to nice boys like you on Christmas mornings."

Daniel's eyes grew wider.

"But it's a secret, okay? Other kids don't know who Santa is and we cannot tell them. Do you understand?" He adds waiting for the boy to nod.

"So, mommy loves daddy?" The little boy asks.

"Mommy loves daddy." Rick echoes in confirmation.

"No Santa?"

"No Santa." He repeats and pulls his child against him.

"So, how about we go shower and visit mommy in the precinct so she feels better?" Rick suggests.

"Sorry, to mommy." Daniel says and Rick's heart soars. How on earth is he able to have such a wonderful kid?

"Yeah. Mommy loves Daniel and daddy so much."

* * *

 **FIN**

* * *

 **A/N: _Typed this on my phone so I apologize if there are a lot of mistakes. My aunt took me to some last minute shopping and a certain song got stuck in my head xD Now that I got rid of it, I hope you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas, everyone. Enjoy your holidays. Thank you so much for reading._**


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